Simmons Gets it Right

Bill Simmons of ESPN.com and the new Grantland website wrote a piece recently on the NBA lockout, noting that he's given up his Clippers season tickets and bought Kings tickets instead. Now, while I can't endorse that choice over the Ducks (granted, he does live in LA), I did enjoy his take on why hockey is so entertaining:

I realized something during last night's Kings-Blues game: I have never not enjoyed myself at an NHL game. I mean, what's not to love? It's a sport with the best in-game format (long period, long break, long period, long break, long period, go home), best regular-season in-game wrinkle (the shootout), best secretly awesome moment (any fight), highest percentage of "most likable players" (hands down), and highest percentage of "true fans in attendance" of the four major sports (indisputable). They fixed many of the sport's problems, made it better, and now we're here.

Well said.

- - -

This video that was shot for the NHL Premiere game in Helsinki recently debuted in-arena at Honda Center and it's a beauty. My favorite part is how the script requires the players to say "Hey..." before they try "Pass me the puck" in Finnish. And, no surprise, George Parros shines in this thing.